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Lou wrote (in reference to the Workers World Party): >I think there's a much better example of what >I am talking about, the newspaper of the ISO. >That is why they are growing rapidly and you >stagnate. and then in another exchange: >...if you are satisfied with having a hundred or so >members in a country of nearly 300 million, >please continue on your merry way. I found this to be very interesting because of a piece Lou wrote on the WWP in 1998 just after Sam Marcy died. >..it is quite likely that the Workers World Party is >the largest "Marxist-Leninist" group in the USA today... >Groups like the WWP and the "state capitalist" >International Socialist Organization, a cult around >the Englishman Tony Cliff, are now growing, while >nonsectarian formations like the CofC and Solidarity >remain stagnant. Obviously Lou's attitude toward the ISO has undergone a sea change but what struck me most was the assertion that the WWP has fallen so far and so fast in the intervening years.Is this true? If so, than how did it happen? I believe the American left, despite the small numbers, is important and the history of the most significant groups is worth studying. The problem is that outside of the CPUSA and the IWW, there just isn't that much interest by historians in researching these organizations. For example, as important as the WWP was in the anti-war and anti-imperialist movements in the 1980's and 1990's, I was only able to mention of two published works that discus the party: 'International Trotskyism' by Robert Alexander 'The Prophet's Children' by Tim Wohlforth Are either of these worth reading? Could comrades direct me any other publications? If it is true that the WWP is in percipitous decline than I can only surmise that the internal rupture that created the PSL was devastating and has not been repaired. Along with Brian Becker and others in important leadership positions, I know that the WWP groups in DC and San Francisco left and, most importantly, the ANSWER coalition. I would be very interested in hearing of any dissenting opinions to Lou's prognosis and please contact me off list if you prefer. ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: Marxism@greenhouse.economics.utah.edu Set your options at: http://greenhouse.economics.utah.edu/mailman/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
